Trump nominates prosecutor in Capano case to be district judge

Colm F. Connolly, former United States Attorney for the district of Delaware, who prosecuted Thomas J. Capano for capital murder reflects back on his first and only murder trial.
Suchat Pederson/The News Journal

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Prosecutor Colm F. Connolly in the offices of the U.S. Attorney's office in Wilmington February 2, 1999.(Photo: William Bretzger, The News Journal)Buy Photo

President Donald J. Trump announced more nominations this week, including Colm F. Connolly and Maryellen Noreika of Delaware to serve as two of the four federal judges on Delaware's District Court.

Delaware Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons submitted Connolly and Norieka to President Trump. The next step to judgeship is for both to go to the full Senate for confirmation. That date has not been set. Carper said he and Coons are hoping to push for an early date in 2018.

"We are going to push hard for the beginning of 2018, because there is such a large case load on district courts in Delaware," Carper said.

Carper said he and Coons created a judicial nomination committee to help choose nominees, and then the two narrowed the list down to three to present to the Trump administration.

Connolly was a young federal prosecutor who helped convict the once-prominent Wilmington attorney Thomas J. Capano in the 1996 murder of Anne Marie Fahey, his former mistress.

He and the U.S. Attorney's Office began investigating Capano for the killing of his secret girlfriend, Anne Marie Fahey in 1996.

Capano was found guilty of first-degree murder on Jan. 17, 1999. He received a sentence of death, which was later overturned. Capano died in prison in 2011 while serving a life sentence.

Connolly, managing partner of the Wilmington law office of Morgan Lewis & Bockius, previously served eight years as the United States attorney for the District of Delaware.

If confirmed, Connolly and Noreika will become District Judges on the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

Connolly also was a partner at Wilmington law firm Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, and served seven years as an assistant United States attorney for the District of Delaware.

He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame, earned his master's of science from the London School of Economics, and his law degree from Duke University School of Law.

Noreika has been a lawyer and partner at Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP, in Wilmington for 24 years. She earned her bachelor's at Lehigh University, a master's at Columbia University, and a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She has worked on over 500 cases, and specializes in patent law, and medical- and science-related cases.

The two will replace judicial vacancies created by Judge Sue L. Robinson, now retired, and Judge Gregory M. Sleet, who took senior status.

Contact Josephine Peterson at (302) 324-2856 or jhpeterson@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @jopeterson93.